Castaways
by ickybicky
Summary: After the end of Total Drama World Tour, some of the contestants wash up on a deserted island. Will they be work together and survive? Noah/Courtney pairing plus canon pairings after TDWT Warning: Has character deaths
1. Chapter 1

**Castaways**

**Pairings: Mostly Noah/Courtney and all of the canon pairings at the end of TDWT.**

**Warning: Violence and Character Deaths. This story is pretty dark, especially in the beginning.**

**Summary: After the end of Total Drama World Tour, some of the contestants wash up on a deserted island. Will they be able to get together and survive?**

**Note: I know that others have written castaway stories, but I wanted to do a Nourtney one while focusing on all of the characters.**

**Part One**

Courtney felt like she had been plunged into hell. One moment they were laughing at Chris when his boat capsized and the next moment they were swimming for their lives when the sky started to rain down ash and large pieces of rock.

Everyone started swimming right away except for Heather, who was still fixated on the stupid money. Courtney didn't know whether to be scared for her or just furious that she was endangering herself because of her greed. Most of the other contestants didn't even notice her and were just focused on getting away. She didn't even know why she was willing to slow down just to watch. She briefly considered going back to pull her away before she saw a large rock hurtling towards Heather.

Courtney wanted to scream or warn the other girl. Heather had done and said some very nasty things, but now all she could think about was the time when Heather had comforted her when she cried about Duncan kissing Gwen. She had really meant it. For once she hadn't been _fake_-

She didn't want to see it happen, but she couldn't look away or do anything to prevent it.

Heather eventually saw the rock and screamed.

It was too late.

And she saw it. Heather getting crushed by the rock. She wanted to vomit when seeing the impact. A chill ran up her spine. Courtney found it agonizing just treading water.

Her immediate shock ended when a small rock hit the water near her, close enough to splash her face. She didn't have time to think.

_Just swim_. _Don't be like Heather. Swim and don't look back._

That was what she told herself over and over as she moved through the water, forcing her aching muscles to their limit.

_Don't think._

The haze of tears that blurred her vision showed that she was finding the second part impossible to carry out.

_Heather…_

* * *

Noah wasn't a good swimmer. Everyone who wasn't behind him at the start had passed him, even a petrified DJ doggie paddled past him.

_Great. I'm going to die because of this stupid show_, he thought, trying to avoid thinking too deeply into it or how tired he was getting.

Where would they even go? Wouldn't they get tired eventually? These questions that plagued him made it harder to keep going. Thinking was not the right way to go.

He would go at it one step at a time.

He would catch up to Owen and they would stick with the group. When the volcano stopped, they would figure something out.

Catching up wouldn't be so easy. He cursed himself for avoiding all athletic activity. _If I get out of this alive, I'll at least try to do a sit-up once and awhile._

He was so focused on keeping up his energy, that he almost missed Owen swimming up ahead at an alarmingly slow pace.

"Hey…buddy…" Owen gasped, losing his breath. Occasionally, the large boy stopped to catch his breath and let Noah catch up to him. A rock almost grazed his shoulder.

"Owen!" Noah cried, picking up his pace. His large friend was too tired to even flinch at the near miss. "Keep going!"

"But I can't leave my little buddy." Owen gasped, trying to force a smile as Noah swam up beside him.

"I think I can manage to keep up." Noah said sarcastically.

Owen laughed, but it had a breathless quality to it.

This was really bad. It was getting harder and harder for Noah to clamp down on his own fear that it wasn't just another game.

Any moment now Chris Mclean was going to swoop by and pick them up in some sort of ridiculous speed boat with his camera men and producers. The crew would cheer at the wrap of another season and they would go home where Noah could get reacquainted with his video games and try to forget that he had participated in _another_ humiliating season of total drama.

Maybe Courtney had something there with the lawsuit thing...

"…tired…" Owen gasped. "Maybe I should rest."

"We're almost out range." Noah told him. It was an empty statement. He had no idea if that true at all. But there was no way he was letting Owen stop so he could get burnt up by lava.

"I'm slowing you down."

"You do realize that you were ahead of me."

A scream from just up ahead caused Noah and Owen to look towards the source of the sound. It sounded like either Katie or Sadie.

"**Kaaattttiiieee!**" the voice cried in anguish.

A little bit of his spark returned to Owen's eyes.

"We have to see if they're okay!" he cried.

Noah nodded, shocked by Owen's sudden energy.

He had been on the verge of giving up, but Owen's energy was limitless when it came to helping others. They could hear Sadie starting to wail. Owen let out a frustrated grunt.

"We have to hurry!"

Noah nodded, his arms burning.

He knew why Sadie was crying. There wouldn't be anything they could do to help. Owen had to know too. One look at the crazed desperation in the large boy's eyes showed that he was hoping to disprove what he knew was true.

Noah hung back.

He didn't want to see it.

"Noah-!" Owen looked back at him, his eyes begging him to not leave him to face it alone.

Noah's mouth grew dry. He nodded and swam up beside his friend.

He hated this. Every expletive he knew came to mind as he and Owen made their way to Katie and Sadie.

When they reached them, Owen squeezed Noah's shoulder, shuddering.

Sadie was treading water, holding Katie against her.

Katie wasn't moving.

"No…" Owen whispered.

"Help her!" Sadie sobbed, holding Katie out to Owen. Katie was bleeding heavily from a large gash on the top of her head, which looked a bit caved in. There was no way she was alive. Sadie knew, but she definitely wasn't accepting it.

Owen shuddered, trying to avoid looking at Sadie. Her pleading for him to help Katie who was beyond help was disturbing him.

Noah gently pushed him aside. His arm shook as he pressed a hand against Katie's neck to show Sadie that he was feeling for her pulse.

"She's gone…" He told her, his voice a little more than a whisper.

Sadie's eyes widened, her lower lip quivering violently.

"You have to keep going…" Owen urged her on.

"No!" Sadie screamed. "I'll get Courtney! She knows first aid!"

"Wait-!" Noah cried. He knew that dragging a heavily bleeding person around in the ocean wasn't a good idea. "Sharks are attracted to blood! You'll be-!"

Sadie shoved him into Owen, tears running down her eyes. "Courtney will save her!" she repeated stubbornly, leaving a dazed Owen and Noah.

Owen held Noah up as he tried to absorb what happened.

It was real. Somebody was _dead_. Chris wasn't coming. Was Chris even _alive_? What about Alejandro and Ezekiel?

"It's really happening." Owen said with tears in his yes.

Noah nodded silently.

"We should go too," Noah said thickly, "we should catch up to the others."

"Do you think Sadie will be okay?" Owen asked him.

"I don't know." Noah sighed.

_I hope so._

It felt like they had failed Sadie somehow.

TO BE CONTINUED

Note: I don't hate any of the characters and Heather's pretty high on my list of top characters. This fic might get pretty long. There are a lot of characters in the show to play with.

Please Read/Review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Castaways**

**Pairings: Mostly Noah/Courtney and all of the canon pairings at the end of TDWT.**

**Warning: Violence and Character Deaths. This story is pretty dark, especially in the beginning.**

**Summary: After the end of Total Drama World Tour, some of the contestants wash up on a deserted island. Will they be able to get together and survive?**

**a/n Sorry that too so long. I was travelling a lot.**

**Part Two**

_Almost there…Almost there…_

Courtney repeated the affirmations that she learned at leadership camp_: I am a fast swimmer. I am strong_. _I will survive._ Her arms were hurting_. I am strong. I am strong_.

She was in a numb daze, but it was okay because she was still swimming. She could do this all day.

_But you might have to do this longer_, an insidious thought suggested. She refused to go down that mental route.

Someone had to survive, and if it was anyone, it was going to be _her_.

The calm state that she had put herself in was suddenly pierced by a loud cry.

She stopped, looking around frantically. She heard splashing around just ahead of her. She looked around for the source of the sound. The world was spinning, but she wasn't tired.

_It's just the water in my ears_, she decided.

She saw movement at the corner of her eye.

Cody and Sierra. The bald head was immediately recognizable and Cody was yelling something in his cracked, boyish voice.

"We're out of danger, Sierra!" he cried, his voice contrasting sharply from the hopeful statement.

Courtney could see why. Sierra was foundering and Cody was trying his best to hold her up. He wasn't doing much good though. Sierra was so much bigger than him and Cody wasn't someone who could be counted on for strength.

"Cody?" Courtney asked, causing the boy to whip his head around to see who it was.

The moment he recognized Courtney, a hopeful look formed on his face. She could practically hear his thoughts. Courtney would know what to do. She was the always confident CIT. It would be okay if he just followed her orders.

Her stomach churned. What did _she_ know? What did Cody expect her to do? She was stronger than Cody, but how long would they be able to lug Sierra around in the water like this?

"Courtney?" Sierra asked dazedly. She was almost out of strength. Suddenly Courtney was struck by the unfairness of it all. Sierra was strong. She was much stronger than Cody. She probably would have been outswimming Courtney herself if it wasn't for the injuries she had before. In fact, she _had_ been outswimming Courtney, considering how far ahead she was before she started foundering and she was probably lugging around Cody too.

"We have to help Sierra…" Cody begged her.

Sierra didn't have the same hopeful look as Cody. She almost looked like she wanted to give up. In the forbidden part of her mind, Courtney wondered if she would soon be fighting that mental battle herself. Would she ever get so tired that she would consider giving up on survival?

This was going to make things much harder but she just couldn't give up. The CIT part of her just wouldn't let it happen and the hopeful look on Cody's face couldn't be denied. She couldn't fail him. She just couldn't.

"Sierra, lean on me. We'll take turns holding her."

Cody nodded.

"We'll be okay, Sierra," he told her quietly. "You just need a rest, right?"

Sierra was leaning against Courtney. She could hear the tiny groan of pain that Sierra would never let Cody hear.

"Where are you hurting?" Courtney asked quietly.

"I just need rest. That's what Cody says, right?"

It was a lie, but somehow that comforted her.

Sierra was still fighting for Cody's sake. That had to mean something.

* * *

Noah and Owen didn't talk for awhile. By now, they had cleared most of the falling rocks and were just swimming around to find the others.

Sadie had swam far up ahead and they hadn't seen her since.

"We should have went after her." Owen said in a teary voice.

"And then what?" Noah asked.

"We could have tried."

"We did try" Noah said tiredly. Why wouldn't he stop and just leave it alone. Sadie was acting like a lunatic. There was nothing they could have done. "She pushed us away." He added almost as an afterthought.

Finally, Owen did leave it alone. Instead, he slowed down his pace so that he was swimming behind Noah instead of beside him.

Before Noah could ask him what he was doing, he could hear the small sobs behind him.

Noah didn't look back. In a way, Owen was trying to get some privacy. The least he could do was respect that.

He increased his efforts on looking for the others.

He could see some dots in the distance. Maybe Eva was up ahead with Izzy. Those two were pretty strong. Izzy probably wasn't even the least bit tired. Courtney looked like she was swimming at a good pace. She had hung back a little in the beginning, but she probably wised up when the rocks really started to rain down on them. Sierra was injured, but she had sped past him and Owen with Cody. Maybe her injury didn't affect her ability to swim. Good. Cody had a better chance with Sierra than without. He hadn't seen Alejandro or Heather. Alejandro probably had the worst injuries out of all of them, he realized grimly. A few hours ago, Noah had hated Alejandro. He had cheered with the others when Heather had sent him down the volcano after their kiss. (Although he _had_ winced at Heather kneeing him in the nuts. _Ouch_) Now, he just thought of Alejandro with dread. The chances of his survival were very low. Yes, a few hours ago, Alejandro was the most evil thing in his life. Now when he thought of Katie and Sadie and how trapped they were, Alejandro's games and tricks were nothing.

Owen didn't cry long. It was just a couple of minutes before Owen stopped sniffling and made his way back to Noah's side. The smaller boy pretended not to notice Owen's red eyes. All he could do was give his chubby buddy a soft pat on the back.

Owen gave him a small smile, understanding. It was the closest Noah had ever come to initiating a hug.

"Did you see anything?" he asked.

"The people up ahead are slowing down. We're catching up." Noah hoped that didn't mean people were starting to drown from exhaustion.

"Actually…could we rest?" Owen asked sheepishly. They hadn't stopped even when they made it past the range of the volcano's debris.

Noah nodded. "Just a little bit."

The large boy leaned back, relaxing his body so that he could float. Noah envied him. He sunk like a rock when he tried to float. He would give Owen five minutes, then they would start swimming again.

At least, that was the plan, before they heard a familiar scream.

Owen sat up quickly, ready for action. "Sadie!" he gasped, starting towards the sound.

Noah grabbed his arm. He had an idea what it was and if his hunch was true, then he couldn't let Owen just swim into danger.

"What are you doing?" Owen asked angrily. "We have to hurry!"

"It's sharks!" Noah shouted, causing Owen to stop.

"What?"

"Blood attracts sharks."

"You mean when Sadie dragged Katie around-" Owen realized.

Noah nodded. "Yeah. That wasn't a good move."

Owen glared at him. "We still have to try."

"We just have to be careful." Noah pointed out.

They swam towards the screaming with Owen leading the way.

It took a few minutes before the screaming abruptly stopped.

Noah and Owen exchanged looks, their faces pale at the implications.

"Sadie!" Owen cried out, finally getting sight of her. She wasn't moving.

Noah's squeezed Owen's arm when he saw the first shark fin. When they got closer, they could see blood in the water.

"Let's go." Noah whispered.

"Wait. Let me see," Owen said thickly.

Then they saw the mass of sharks gathered around the area with the most blood. Owen turned away, shuddering.

"Sadie," he gasped.

Noah pulled on his arm. "You'll be killed. There's nothing we can do for her now."

"There's never anything we can do!" Owen cried in frustration, swimming ahead past Noah.

Noah closed his eyes, trying to hold in his tears.

He couldn't cry. Owen was looking to him. He had to be strong until they reunited with everyone else in the show and they would do it soon.

END OF PART TWO


	3. Chapter 3

**Castaways**

**Pairings: Mostly Noah/Courtney and all of the canon pairings at the end of TDWT.**

**Warning: Violence and Character Deaths. This story is pretty dark, especially in the beginning.**

**Summary: After the end of Total Drama World Tour, some of the contestants wash up on a deserted island. Will they be able to get together and survive?**

**A/N Yeah, I guess this fic is officially AU with the coming of the new season. Serves me right for taking so long to update, hm?**

**Part Three**

Right now, Bridgette hated the ocean. It was blasphemous and wrong. She was a surfer. At one with the sea, and all it's creatures or whatever, but now the sun was starting to sink down below the horizon and she was starting to wonder if Chris really intended to look for them at all.

This couldn't be for real? Could it?

He had seen Ezekiel hit Chris's boat, sinking it, but she had the feeling that the host got away. He was like a roach in a way. Nothing could keep him down, and despite Bridgette's personal goal to try to see the good in everyone, she was having a lot of trouble seeing any of his positive attributes.

"Bridgette-uh-"

The blonde surfer turned to the source of the voice, berating herself for swimming so far ahead of Geoff. He was pretty athletic, but she was still the stronger swimmer.

"Are you okay? I can help you rest-" She asked, trying to get him to lean on her. She had had worked summers as a lifeguard. She could handle it.

"No. I'm fine." Geoff said, lightly batting her hands away, "I don't need to lean or anything."

He always turned down her offers to help, but now he wasn't even looking at her anymore. It was a far cry from the constant physical affection he had shown her before. They were the couple that was always making out, but now Geoff was being cold and distant.

"It would make me feel better." Bridgette tried to coax him. She put a hand on his shoulder, but he pushed her away.

"What's your problem?" Bridgette exploded, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice.

Geoff turned away. "Sorry," he mumbled, "I've just been thinking, y'know?"

He looked back at her, and she could see that he was letting her get close again. She swam beside him again, and he wrapped an arm around her, with more firmness than she thought was left in him.

"Do you think the others are okay?" he asked. "That eruption was pretty powerful. What if-?" Geoff closed his eyes. He looked like he was wrestling with something.

Bridgette shuddered. For the first time, she allowed herself to think that this was all real. The water was getting colder and she felt a grain of fear.

DJ, Beth, Lindsay, Courtney, the names flashed in and out of her mind, making her heart twinge. If they were all gone-If they were all gone- and she couldn't even stand to lose even one of them.

"Bridge?" a low voice, interrupted her thoughts. Geoff sounded so quiet.

"We might have to hold off on those surfing lessons you offered me. I don't think I like the ocean very much"

She looked at Geoff, who gave her a weak smile at the joke attempt.

She laughed quietly. She couldn't hug him any harder.

They would be alright.

* * *

Eva saw them, hugging together in the ocean, and she couldn't suppress the envy that was just strong enough that she couldn't fully deny it.

Geoff and Bridgette. Always together. She almost didn't want to call out to them.

They would ask about the others and she would have to tell them what she saw, what she couldn't stop. Everything had happened so fast and her training hadn't done anyone any good.

They were in their own little world, and judging by how far ahead of everyone they were, they had been removed in their own little world. In her mind, she bitterly mashed their names together, GeoffandBridgette, GeoffandBridge, GeoffBridge.

Ugh. And now she was going to have to waltz into their saccharine world and tell them what was really going on and wreck everything.

For some reason, it felt more violent than hitting something.

"Bridgette," she said firmly, waving unenthusiastically.

The girl looked up from her hug with Geoff, her eyes growing wide.

"Eva?"

"Yeah," she said lamely.

"Geoff, look! Eva!"

They both swam over to her enthusiastically. Bridgette was suddenly hugging her. Eva didn't usually do hugs, but just this once-

"Did you see anyone?" Geoff asked, knowing that an affirmative answer would not be accompanied with good news. After all, Eva was alone. If she had seen anyone, then-

"Yes. Justin and Izzy."

Geoff swallowed nervously. "Yeah?" The one word was filled with questions, as though the party boy was afraid of asking her outright.

Bridgette was avoiding her eyes.

"Izzy swam up ahead. The loon was looking for Owen. Even I couldn't even keep up with her. You know how she is."

Geoff grunted.

"And Justin- He was with me. I tried to carry him with me after one of the rocks hit him." She put a hand over her eye, showing where Justin had been hit. He had cried, and told Eva that he couldn't see. "Of course not, idiot," she had yelled at him, unable to do anything but lash out in anger. She hated herself for that outburst. God, was that the last thing anyone had said to him?

No. She didn't have time to wallow. She just had to tell the damn story and they could move on.

"I got him to hold onto me for a bit, but I wasn't able to swim fast enough."

Geoff drew Bridgette closer. The girl glanced at Eva for a second before looking away.

"We both got hit a bit, but Justin- the piece that got him was too big. It-" Eva trailed off.

Bridgette sighed and Eva could see it was taking everything in her to confront this. "Eva. I'm sorry-"

"Forget it. Let's swim." Eva said suddenly, not wanting to deal with a pep talk from Bridgette. "There's land up ahead."

"What?" Geoff and Bridgette cried, almost in unison.

"You see that rock behind those clouds?" Eva asked, pointing behind Bridgette.

The couple gasped at the sight. They had been so focused in swimming in one direction, they had started swimming away from the island within their range.

"Do you think it's populated?" Bridgette asked.

"Don't know. Don't care. I'm sick of swimming," Eva huffed, "Anything is better than this."

* * *

Truthfully, Leshawna thought she would be more annoyed. Tyler and Lindsay weren't the brightest of companions, but something about their oblivious nature made the whole ordeal more bearable.

Tyler was a clumsy athlete, but he still had the basic endurance and strength from the sheer amount of effort he put into his athletic activities. Occasionally, they rested for Lindsay, but sometimes Tyler would just let her hold onto him while he pulled her along. Sometimes Lindsay would call out for Beth, but for the most part, they were pretty quiet.

Lindsay and Tyler mostly focused on each other, which gave Leshawna time to think, and their presence gave her a little bit of security so she wasn't totally alone.

Now she could focus on find Harold and Gwen. They just had to be okay. They had to be.

After all, she could see dry land ahead, so there had to be hope.

* * *

DJ hadn't said a word since they found Beth ten minutes ago.

At first, Harold couldn't get him to stop crying and panicking about everything, long enough to get out of the eruption zone. That is, until they came across Beth's body, floating facedown in the water. Her leg had looked severely injured as though she had been hit by a rock from the eruption. She was so far out, it looked like she kept trying to swim and ending up drowning instead.

Now everything was eerily silent.

"They're probably up ahead." Harold said

DJ sniffed.

"Beth just got unlucky. She must have got hit, so she couldn't swim as well as she could have. Everyone is probably ahead of us."

Harold didn't really believe any of the optimistic drivel that was coming out of his mouth.

After all, Courtney, Noah and Owen were definitely not up ahead. Courtney may have been flattened by the rock that hit Heather.

But DJ didn't have to know that. He was going to find Leshawna, and there was no way she wasn't leading the pack on their way to swim to dry land.

DJ started to cry again.

"It'll be okay," he said lowly, not sure if he was trying to convince himself or DJ.

END OF PART THREE

Yeah, I'm sorry this chapter took forever to come out! I had a lot of IRL stuff piled up on me.

Yeah, so I decided to focus on the other characters. We'll get to statuses Gwen, Trent, Duncan and Izzy later. There are a lot of characters, so it looks like this is gonna be a pretty long fic.

I wanted to include more Courtney and Noah stuff, but I felt this was good stopping point if I wanted to post this chapter now. It was getting long (by my standards) so I had to stop here. Besides, I wanted to give the next few interactions a better focus.


	4. Chapter 4

**Castaways**  
**Pairings: Mostly Noah/Courtney and all of the canon pairings at the end of TDWT.**  
**Warning: Violence and Character Deaths. This story is pretty dark, especially in the beginning.**  
**Summary: After the end of Total Drama World Tour, some of the contestants wash up on a deserted island. Will they be able to get together and survive?**  
**A/N: I know. A long wait. But eventually posted is better than never posted. This is the longest chapter yet! So...yay!**

**Part Four**

Cody was the first one to see it.

"An island!" he cried, flashing a gap-toothed grin that was aimed very obviously at Sierra.

"Huh?" Courtney asked, still feeling a bit weighed down.

"Do you want me to take Sierra?" Cody asked. "You look really tired and I'm rested up."

Courtney flashed him a doubtful look. Sierra was really tall and Cody was just…short. It didn't look very possible. She thought about reminding him of that fact until she saw the strangely hopeful look on his face.

"I can do it. You need to rest, right?" he asked, seeing her hesitation.

Courtney sighed and nodded. "Only for a little bit." She told him firmly, using her best "CIT voice."

Cody flashed her a grin, and for a moment, Courtney smiled back at him.

Things were starting to feel normal again.

They were all going to make it.

They were all going to be okay.

Then she remembered Heather, and her feeling of optimism disappeared immediately.

Maybe not everyone.

* * *

"Am I hallucinating or is that an island up ahead?" Noah asked, with a slight smile, trying to make the situation lighter.

Owen hadn't said a thing since he had to pull him away from Sadie.

The silence had been overpowering. Noah liked his peace, especially considering some of the things they had seen, but this was too weird.

It wasn't like him.

Not talking.

"Owen-?" he tried again. "I said-"

"I know, buddy."

His voice wasn't bitter or angry in anyway, but the neutrality didn't fit him. It was cutting in a way that was sharper than his sarcasm could ever hope to be.

"We'll see some of the others. Izzy is probably there, throwing coconuts at monkeys or something.

"Yeah." Owen said, his voice quivering slightly.

"Then we can rest and eat coconuts while we wait for rescue," Noah said quietly, trying to force a small smile. Owen turned his face away sharply, his eyes becoming hard for a split second before filling with pain.

"I don't think I'm hungry."

For an absurd moment, Noah had a million smart alecky remarks at the tip of his tongue regarding Owen's voracious appetite and his sudden lack of hunger.

But despite his instinct to fall into his anti-social habits, he knew that it would be better to say silent if he didn't have anything constructive to say.

"You'll get your appetite back when we reach land," he said instead.

Owen nodded, looking unusually subdued. "Sure," not sounding entirely convinced.

Noah stopped swimming and turned to face Owen. His best friend wasn't looking into his eyes. He gritted his teeth. After what happened to Katie and Sadie, he had a hard time talking about their situation, but Owen's talk about a lack of appetite set him off somehow.

"Come on, Owen. We'll need to bring our energy back up and-" Noah knew he was starting to babble. It was such a little thing. They were still in the middle of the ocean and the island was still a long swim away, but something told him he had to win this argument, even though it was stupid and didn't make much sense.

"Buddy-" Owen tried to interject.

"We'll probably have to hike around the island when we get there to find civilization and-"

"I don't think I can make it." Owen admitted softly.

Noah stopped babbling. Obviously stupid optimism wasn't going to work. It wasn't like he was good at that sort of thing anyway. He exhaled slowly, taking a good look at his friend.

Owen was shaking and his face was red from a combination of physical exertion and sunburns. His eyes were red and he was on the verge of tears. Noah had never seen him look so bad.

He couldn't stay silent. He had to do something to take Owen's mind off his exhaustion and fear. He shakily started swimming toward the large boy, working hard to keep his face neutral.

Once he reached Owen so that he was right in front of him, he put his hands on Owen's shoulders.

"We'll be okay. We're close."

There was a long silence. Noah resisted the urge to start swimming away. Owen wasn't going to be allowed to avoid this.

"Tell me you are going to make it to the island and we're going to eat coconuts together with Izzy." he said, trying to sound confident.

Owen looked away.

"If a scrawny, wimpy nerd like me can do this, the big, tough, dodgeball king can do it."

Owen let out a small chuckle at "dodgeball king."

_Good_, Noah thought with some relief. _Get him laughing._ _He'll forget he's too tired to even see straight. No more "I can't make it" or anything stupid like that._

But Owen's mirth was short lived. As soon as he stopped chuckling, he shivered. "You don't look as bad as I do, buddy."

Noah let go of his friend's shoulders. "You're not going to give up. We can _see_ the island. Do you really want to end pathetically like-?"

"Did you think that Katie and Sadi were annoying?" Owen asked abruptly.

The question caught him off guard. He didn't even remember what he was saying before. The long swim was getting to him too, dulling his usually sharp mind.

"What?"

"You made fun of them a lot. You must've thought they were annoying."

"A lot of people are annoying." Noah said guardedly. What did Owen _want_ him to do? _Lie_?

"Like me?"

"No." Was all Noah could say.

"It was so easy for you-" Owen murmured.

There was a long pause. His large friend seemed like he wanted to say something else, but he was fighting it with all his might.

"What was?" Noah asked hesitantly, knowing he would get an answer he didn't want to hear.

"Leaving them behind."

Noah's chest tightened. He shut his eyes tightly to avoid any burst in emotion. "There was nothing we could do."

"Would you leave me behind?"

"No. I wouldn't."

"What if I couldn't swim anymore?"

"I'd pull you."

"You're too small. You couldn't pull someone my size."

"I'd try."

"You wouldn't make it! You'd drown!" Owen cried incredulously.

"Then you have to try too." Noah responded, giving him a sad little smile.

A millisecond later and he couldn't breath as his friend was smothering him with one of his bone crushing hugs. "I'll try my best," he promised with a shaky voice. "I'll just focus on the land."

Noah nodded and pulled away from the hug, turning his back to Owen. "Let's go." he said in a monotone voice.

"Thank you, buddy." Owen whispered, but Noah didn't hear him. His voice was too soft.

* * *

Trent saw Izzy pass him just as he was about to reach the rocks that circled the island. The long swim was difficult and a test of his endurance, but the rocks and the waves near the shore were a whole different challenge. He swore as something brushed against his leg, and he took in a mouthful of water as he unreleased a string of profane words.

He didn't normally curse, but the coral or whatever it was was extremely sharp.

He quickly regained focus and grabbed a rock just as he was about to slam into a larger rock.

It would have been horrible to endure a marathon swim only to drown just before reaching the island he though grimly.

Izzy seemed to be doing much better, and she was squinting in concentration as she wove through the rocks. She seemed a lot more athletic than Trent, even though he was no slouch in that department.

She looked back at him with worry, but Trent nodded. Watching Izzy move gave him a little more confidence as he let go of the little rock and pushed back and forth against the smaller rocks, keeping his legs near the surface to avoid the coral.

Just as his energy was about to give, his hands gripped the sand on the beach and he used his arms to pull himself up on shore.

He almost sobbed in relief as Izzy ran to him, her eyes widening as she looked down at his leg.

It looked worse than he thought. He was bleeding a lot and the sand underneath his leg was red from the blood seeping out of the deep cut.

"It's not as bad as it looks," he said lamely in an attempt to reassure Izzy and himself.

The redhead swallowed nervously and ripped a thin strip from the bottom of her wrap, tying it around Trent's leg.

"Thanks," he said, surprised at her quick action.

Izzy sat down beside him, her eyes focused on the sea.

"The others will make it. Izzy is sure of it."

Trent nodded, sitting up beside her.

_Maybe_, he thought, feeling a lot less optimistic.

* * *

Courtney quickly looked around. She had been keeping track of the postions of the others. It seemed like everyone had somehow clustered off into groups and they were all within sight of each other.

Noah and Owen had fell behind for a little bit and Courtney had worried that their endurance had run out, but now they were gaining ground and they seemed to be going at a decent speed.

Courtney herself had recovered a bit when Cody started holding Sierra again. He was struggling a lot and Courtney would probably take her again soon once she looked around a bit.

It appeared that two people had already reached the island and were standing on shore. She couldn't make out who they were, but it was pretty encouraging anyways. Surviving was looking very possible. If she could just get Cody and Sierra to hold up, they would be fine, and even though they were both weaker, they seemed to have a good attitude.

"Princess?" a voice called out.

Cody gave a small glare in the direction of the owner of the voice.

There was no denying it.

Duncan.

"My name is not princess." Courtney said haughtily as he swam towards her, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever." he mumbled.

"Gwen!" Cody cried, when he saw the goth girl swimming behind the punk. She smiled uneasily, staying behind Duncan a little bit.

Now it was Courtney's turn to glare.

If Gwen saw her look, she didn't seem to notice. The other girl seemed more distressed about the awkwardness of the meeting than by anything else.

"Really. You're letting the twerp do the heavy lifting?" Duncan asked in exasperation, pulling Sierra onto his own shoulders.

"No...Courtney carried her most of the way! I was just giving her a break!" Cody shouted, still glaring at the punk.

Courtney gave him a grateful look when he rose to her defense, even thought it seemed motivated more from his jealousy than any real, righteous rage.

"I'm helping you, geek, so get over the attitude." Duncan muttered testily.

"Let's just cut it out," Gwen said in a long-suffering tone.

Courtney nodded, for once in agreement with Gwen.

"Are you two okay?" she asked, hesitantly, trying to avoid looking at Duncan. A part of her wanted to swim away in a huff with Cody, but Duncan was actually being pretty helpful, despite the bitterness between them.

"We're holding up fine...except...well..." The goth bit her lip and Courtney had a pretty good idea what was bothering her.

"Did you see something...happen?" she asked, trying to sound encouraging. After seeing what happened with Heather, it was hard for her to turn her back on Gwen, even though the betrayal from before still hurt.

Duncan and Cody stopped staring at each other with animosity when they sensed the atmosphere get heavier.

The punk started to swim besides Gwen, but hesitated when he saw the little look of pain that flashed in Courtney's eyes for a second. He lightly tapped Gwen's arm and cleared his throat softly.

"We saw Blainley and Ezekiel drown."

"We tried to get to them, but there were too many rocks flying around and one hit Ezekiel on the head and Blainley couldn't even_try_ to swim." Tears were forming in Gwen's eyes.

Courtney nodded sympathetically.

"The same thing...happened to Heather. I saw it."

Cody looked up at her suddenly. She hadn't told him about _that_.

"I don't know if I could have done something to prevent it-"

"No way," Duncan said brusquely. "You would have gotten beaned in the head too. You already hung back a little too long."

The last part was said with an usual warmth that she hadn't heard from Duncan in awhile.

Her jaw tightened as she suppressed the part of her that missed it.

"Yeah...And if you hadn't gotten to us, I don't think we would have survived this long," Cody added.

Courtney smiled lightly, feeling a little weight disappearing from her shoulders.

Even when Duncan put an arm around Gwen, she didn't feel the familiar surge of anger.

Cody swam behind Sierra and held her hand.

The girl struggled to smile.

"See, now we'll make it for sure," he said to her softly. "The island's getting bigger and closer. Duncan's bigger than me, so carrying you is like nothing...even if I punched him out before."

The punk snorted, but he looked more amused than angry. Sierra even smiled a little bit.

In her head, Courtney continued her mantra.

_Just keep going. Keep going. Almost there. Almost there._

* * *

"Can we...rest again?" Owen wheezed.

It had been the third time in the past 15 minutes. Noah knew it was 15 minutes because he counted the seconds in his head to keep his mind off the pain.

They were very close and chances were looking very good that they would make it now. Some more people had even made it onshore and they were close enough to see who they were.

Izzy..Trent..Bridgette..Eva, and DJ, who was now pulling Harold ashore.

"Rest is fine." he answered. "We're so close."

Owen smiled, but he didn't even have the strength to talk anymore.

"Izzy and Eva are even giving everyone coconuts." Noah noted in amusement.

Owen chuckled. He looked so much worse, but he seemed to be more determined to hang on.

They had fallen behind a bit more, but he could see that Leshawna, Tyler and Lindsay had passed the rocks near the shore and were walking through the shallow water to the beach. DJ was holding onto Tyler and Lindsay who were still clinging to his back. He was shuddering a lot as he fell to his hands and knees on the beach.

Courtney, Gwen and Duncan, who was holding Sierra, were making their way around the rocks and harsh waves by the shore.

The last part wasn't going to be easy. It looked like everyone was struggling through the last part.

If _Courtney_ was struggling through it, then he and Owen were probably screwed, not that he would tell Owen.

There was no way he was going to wreck his friend's morale by telling him his concerns.

Just _getting_ there was a battle for him.

He had been thinking of a plan for awhile, but the best thing he could think of was Owen floating while Noah pulled him along, or calling somebody out to help them.

But it didn't seem possible for people to back from shore, since the waves were too strong, and if they tried to go for it alone, Noah wasn't nearly strong enough to pull Owen around the rocks without getting both of them killed.

Even without Owen, he probably wouldn't be able to do it.

Cody hit one of the rocks and Noah winced. There was blood coming out of his nose and he was unconscious. Fortunately, Courtney was close enough to pull him onto her back as she pulled him onshore where Duncan was laying Sierra out on the sand.

"Everyone else has made it." Noah said with false brightness, patting Owen on the back.

"The last part is hard, isn't it?" Owen asked.

"We should probably rest for a few minutes." Noah said, dodging the question.

Owen winced. "Okay."

"We just need to use the last bit of strength."

"Noah! Owen!" Geoff called, waving his hands enthusiastically. "You guys can do it!"

"You're almost there!" Harold cried.

"You ready?" Noah asked.

"Yeah. I think...I can do it." Owen said softly.

"I know.

END OF PART FOUR

I felt bad about the long wait...so I made this chapter longer.

Now there will be more character interactions and Noah and Courtney will finally interact!

I'm taking my sweet time getting there, I know.


End file.
